Now that you are giving up on check-ins and sharing your location with your friends, a French startup is coming up with better technology and new use cases to make location cool again. Zenly has been quietly working on location for years, and teenagers are now getting addicted to this app. SoLoMo is back. Zenly couldn’t be more straightforward. When you open the app, you see a giant map… Read More

Berlin-based eSports startup Dojo Madness is on a mission to help gamers level up. It does this via a mobile app, initially targeting League of Legends, that essentially turns your phone into an eSports coach, offering tips on strategy before and during gameplay, and analysis afterwards based on data culled from your in-game performance. Read More

BeMyEye, one of a number of ‘mobile crowdsourcing’ apps that lets companies pay to have people carry out mobile tasks, such as photographing in-store promotions to ensure that are actually happening, has raised €6.5 million and acquired a competitor. Read More

The HAX hardware accelerator held its 8th Demo Day in San Francisco yesterday. While all 15 companies in the latest batch hold promise, and encompass some very wild ambitions, these three stood out thanks to creative applications of advanced tech to sometimes overlooked, but truly massive potential markets. RovensoBased in Lausanne, Switzerland, Rovenso is adapting technology created… Read More

As the co-founder of a “142-proof” software development agency in the Silicon Valley catering to pre- and post-money companies, I’ve observed quite a bit of variance when it comes to the development process. The capabilities range wildly, from hack-and-slash “oh shit commits” all the way to buttoned-down tests and infrastructure that makes us all giddy when we see it. Read More

Last May, Lee Hnetinka shut down his on-demand delivery service WunWun, which was a direct a competitor to Postmates, and then sold the company’s assets to Alfred, a TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2014 Battlefield alum. Fast forward to today and Hnetinka has teamed up with JustVacay founder Wilson Lee to launch Darkstore, a delivery fulfillment platform for e-commerce brands that is… Read More

Glu Mobile, the maker of games like “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood”, “Deer Hunter”, and “Diner Dash”, is today unveiling another celebrity-branded game. This time, we’re taking a caricatured look into the life and times of pop queen Britney Spears with “Britney Spears: American Dream.” As with these types of games, the exact goal is unclear. Read More

LATEST CRUNCH REPORT

SocialRank is a startup that helps brands, agencies and celebrities understand their social media followers — not just in aggregate, like most social analytics services, but on an individual level. Today it introduced more features as part of a new SocialRank Premium plan. As a refresher: SocialRank helps customers find things like their “most valuable” followers on Twitter… Read More

Fresh on the heels of Disrupt NY, we’re packing up and heading to Austin and Seattle for the TC Meetup + Pitch-off. Ten companies will have exactly sixty seconds to pitch to a panel of expert judges, including local VCs and TC editors, as well as our lovely audience. Judges will conduct a quick Q&A on stage, and at the end of all the presentations, they will determine our winners. Read More

As civilian drones become more affordable, sophisticated and common around the world, a company called Dedrone Inc. has raised $10 million in venture funding for systems that monitor the skies and tell people when drones have entered their airspace. Menlo Ventures led the Series A investment in Dedrone bringing the company’s total capital raised to date to $12.9 million. According… Read More

Jifiti, the startup attempting to reinvent digital gift-giving, announced this morning that their new chatbot API was approved by Facebook Messenger. It’s a big deal for the Columbus, OH startup, who already has relationships with many companies ranging from IKEA to Evite and who can now integrate their gift-giving process directly with Facebook Messenger. Read More

Affirm has made it no secret that its success will hinge on its ability to offer customers a wide range of retail partners where they can frequently use Affirm to pay. While the lending startup originally launched with niche partners like Casper mattresses and Boosted Boards, they have expanded partnerships to over 700 retail merchants with the hopes of tempting a more diverse range of… Read More

Just swallow a pill and it expands into a balloon in your stomach so you don’t feel hungry. No gastric bypass, no surgery required. Sounds magical, but Boston-based Allurion has created the only non-invasive gastric balloon for obesity. Gastric balloons are nothing new, but you usually need anesthesia and a doctor to insert them. That makes the whole process expensive and prohibitive… Read More

If you’ve ever grumbled about long lines at the pharmacy, Capsule wants to save you the trouble next time. The New York-based startup is launching today to offer delivery of prescription meds directly to your doorstep or office in your time of need. Here’s how it works: When you visit the Dr. and they prescribe you meds, you can ask your Dr. to fill out the prescription for the… Read More

French startup Snips is launching its first product today, an iOS app that is supposed to make your life easier by letting you view and search your data more easily. Snips is a personal assistant that helps you know where you need to be and when. When you first launch the app, Snips wants you to grant access to your location, calendars, contacts, motion sensor and Gmail account. Then… Read More

In three short weeks, the TechCrunch team will be in the beautiful city of Stockholm for a good old TechCrunch Meetup + Pitch-Off — and I couldn’t be more excited about this event. If you’re an entrepreneur and you’re available on June 7, it’s now time to apply to the pitch-off. Read More

About Me

New Trier High School, Winnetka Illinois.... cancer survivor...NYU Grad School of Film and TV...Film Editor....Training Audio/Visual Writer for US Coast Guard...audio visual producer and public relations writer..had some pretty awful bumps along the way (haven't we all) --glad to still be around and in touch with so many friends from the past